How to Say I Don't Understand in Spanish (+ Variations You'll Hear)

To say “I don’t understand” in Spanish, say no entiendo — and congratulations, you’ve just learned the most honest sentence in language learning. Every learner says it hundreds of times, and that’s exactly how it should be: it keeps conversations alive instead of ending them. The real skill is what you say next — asking people to repeat, slow down, or rephrase — and Mexican Spanish has a beautiful little word for that: ¿Mande?

The main way to say it

No entiendo — pronounced noh en-TYEN-doh.

From the verb entender (to understand). Present tense, first person, job done:

• Perdón, no entiendo. — Sorry, I don’t understand.
• No entiendo, ¿me lo puedes explicar? — I don’t understand, can you explain it to me?

There’s a useful sibling: no entendí (noh en-ten-DEE) — “I didn’t understand / I didn’t catch that.” Use no entiendo for something you still don’t get (a concept, a word), and no entendí for the sentence that just flew past your ears. Mexicans use the past-tense version constantly for exactly that just-missed-it moment.

Variations

Spanish	Pronunciation	Register	When to use it
No entiendo	noh en-TYEN-doh	Universal	”I don’t understand” — the default
No entendí	noh en-ten-DEE	Universal	”I didn’t catch that” — for the last sentence
No le entiendo	noh leh en-TYEN-doh	Formal	Same, addressing someone as usted
¿Mande?	MAHN-deh	Very Mexican	”Pardon? What was that?” — Mexico’s signature
¿Cómo?	KOH-moh	Casual	”What? Come again?”
¿Puede repetir, por favor?	PWEH-deh reh-peh-TEER	Polite	”Can you repeat, please?”
Más despacio, por favor	mahs dehs-PAH-syoh	Universal	”Slower, please” — the learner’s lifeline
No capté / No caché	noh kahp-TEH / kah-CHEH	Slang	”I didn’t get it” — casual Mexican
No agarré la onda	noh ah-gah-RREH lah OHN-dah	Slang	”I didn’t catch the vibe/point” — very Mexican

¿Mande? deserves its own paragraph. Where Spain says ¿Qué? or ¿Cómo?, Mexico says ¿Mande? — literally “command me,” a leftover of old courtesy that became the universal Mexican “pardon?” It’s polite, it’s instant, and using it is one of the fastest ways to sound like you learned your Spanish in Mexico. Bare ¿Qué? in response to a person, by contrast, can sound brusque to Mexican ears — many Mexican kids are literally corrected by their parents: “¡Se dice mande!”

And no agarré la onda — literally “I didn’t grab the wave” — runs on onda, the great Mexican all-purpose vibe-word (¿qué onda? = what’s up, buena onda = cool/nice). It means you missed the point or the joke, not the words.

Hear it in context

Dialog 1 — Asking someone to slow down

— Entonces agarras el metro hasta Balderas, haces transbordo y te bajas en… — Perdón, no entendí. ¿Puedes hablar más despacio, por favor? Apenas estoy aprendiendo español. — ¡Claro! Metro. Hasta. Balderas. ¿Va?

— So you take the metro to Balderas, transfer, and get off at… — Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Can you speak slower, please? I’m just learning Spanish. — Of course! Metro. To. Balderas. Okay?

Dialog 2 — The ¿Mande? reflex

— Oye, ¿me pasas el control? — ¿Mande? — Que si me pasas el control de la tele. — ¡Ah! Sí, aquí está.

— Hey, can you pass me the remote? — Pardon? — I said, can you pass me the TV remote. — Oh! Yes, here it is.

Notice the repair pattern in dialog 2: the repeat starts with que — “Que si me pasas…” (“I said/I was asking if…”). Recognizing that little que tells you a repetition is coming.

Common mistakes

1. Saying “no entender.” That’s the infinitive — “to not understand.” Conjugate it: no entiendo. Tarzan-Spanish is understood but easily avoided.

2. Responding “¿Qué?” to people. Fine for things (¿Qué es eso?), abrupt for people in Mexico. Train the ¿Mande? reflex instead — or at minimum ¿Cómo?

3. Confusing “no entiendo” with “no sé.” No sé = I don’t know (information). No entiendo = I don’t understand (meaning). Answering no sé when someone asks if you understood them is genuinely confusing.

4. Faking comprehension. Nodding through no entiendo moments is the number-one conversation killer for learners. Mexicans are famously patient with learners — saying no entendí, ¿me lo repites? earns you a slower, friendlier rerun almost every time.

5. Saying “no comprendo” everywhere. It’s correct, but bookish — in everyday Mexican speech, entender wins over comprender by a mile. No comprendo sounds a bit like a phrasebook talking.

Related phrases

No entiendo works best with backup:

• How to say “Can you help me?” in Spanish — the natural escalation when repeating doesn’t fix it
• How to say “Excuse me” in Spanish — where ¿Mande? fits into the wider politeness toolkit
• How to say “I’m sorry” in Spanish — the perdón that softens no entendí

For the questions you’ll be decoding, see common Spanish questions, and for survival mode abroad, Spanish for travel.

FAQ

What’s the difference between “no entiendo” and “no entendí”? Tense and target. No entiendo (present): I don’t understand this — still. No entendí (past): I didn’t catch what you just said. For a missed sentence, no entendí is the more precise, more native-sounding choice.

Is “¿Mande?” only used in Mexico? Essentially, yes — it’s a hallmark of Mexican Spanish. Elsewhere people say ¿Cómo?, ¿Perdón?, or ¿Diga? You’ll be understood everywhere, but ¿Mande? marks you as Mexico-trained.

How do I say “Do you speak English?” ¿Habla inglés? (formal) / ¿Hablas inglés? (informal). Pair it with estoy aprendiendo español — “I’m learning Spanish” — and watch people switch into patient-teacher mode.

How do I ask what a specific word means? ¿Qué significa…? — ¿Qué significa “chamba”? (“What does ‘chamba’ mean?” Answer: it’s Mexican slang for work/job.)

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Here’s the paradox: the more comfortable you get saying no entiendo, the less you’ll need it. Sofia, an AI Spanish tutor speaking real Mexican Spanish, is the ideal place to burn through those first hundred ¿Mande? moments — she never gets impatient, and she’ll happily repeat it más despacio every single time.